The United States has again fallen behind China as the world leader in number of commercial rocket launches in a single year. The year 2019 will be the second year China has led the world in the number of successful annual orbital launches.
The Chinese now launch more rockets into outer space than any country in the world. They've launched 27 successful orbital missions this year as of November 17. In contrast, the U.S. has only had 16 space missions thus far this year and is in third place behind Russia, which has had 19 launches, according to Space Launch Report, a periodic news digest of worldwide space launch activity.
The year isn't over yet, however, and the U.S. is scheduled to launch six more orbital missions before 2019 ends five weeks from now. This will give the U.S. a total of 29 orbital missions. It still has to be seen if all these missions will be successful.
On the other hand, China is targeting at least 30 orbital missions this year where it will orbit some 50 spacecraft. The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) conducts all of China's space missions.
In 2018, China's goal was 37 orbital launches but wound-up with 39 launch attempts, instead. The U.S. had 29 successful orbital flights and Russia, 20.
China's previous highest annual launch rate was 22 back in 2016. In 2018, the accelerated cadence of orbitaL launches saw China account for roughly a third of the 103 global launches, placing it ahead of the U.S. and Russia for the first time.
Analysts said the U.S, took a back seat to China this year due to decreased launch activity by SpaceX, which accounts for more than half of total U.S. launch missions. SpaceX launched a record 21 missions in 2018 but has so far launched only 11 missions so far this year.
On the other hand, SpaceX will conduct a spate of missions in the remaining six weeks of the year, including a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in early December and a commercial satellite launch.
United Launch Alliance, (ULA) the second largest launch provider after SpaceX, is having a bad year. It's launched just two Delta IV-Medium rockets this year: a Delta IV Heavy and a single Atlas V mission. ULA might launch Boeing's Starliner spacecraft before the end of this year. It's also scheduled an Atlas V launch.
